Chris Jones reports from Milan.
Steven Dubois crossed the finish line with his mouth and his arms competing over which could open wider.
He had just won gold in the men’s 500-metre short track final, beating fellow Canadian William Dandjinou and three Dutch skaters, including brothers Melle and Jens van ’t Wout, who took silver and bronze.
The women’s 3,000-metre relay team, who had won bronze earlier in a thrilling evening at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, waited for Dubois in a corner of the rink. He fell into their collective arms before a Canadian flag was draped across his narrow shoulders.
He skated one more lap, this time as Olympic champion.
Canada’s Steven Dubois skates to short track 500m Olympic gold
“It means so much, honestly,” the 28-year-old said after his race, which took 40.835 seconds and forever. “There are so many emotions that come into this. It’s relief, and satisfaction, and pride.”
Because of the extraordinarily strange setup in the final — an individual event that essentially pitted two teams against each other, with a pair of brothers within one of them — Dubois risked a tactic he’d never attempted in competition.
Normally, the diminutive Dubois likes to skate from the back, drafting larger skaters and overtaking late. But in Wednesday’s race, he took the lead immediately, slipping past Jens van ’t Wout, who had already won gold in the 1,000- and 1,500-metre finals.
In short track, space between skaters allows pursuers to accelerate. Dubois kept his lead but skated relatively slowly, purposefully keeping the gap small, preventing the Dutch from gaining speed. It also kept the race cluttered, which led to the third Dutch skater, Teun Boer, crashing out after Dandjinou made an aggressive passing move.
“I make one mistake, and I’m going to fall back in fifth position,” Dubois said. “I gambled on myself, and it paid off.”
Risky strategy pays off in gold for Canada’s Steven Dubois
It was a bittersweet night for Dandjinou, who finished just off the podium in his third consecutive individual race. He crossed the line in fourth but received a penalty for failure to give way and dropped to fifth.
Four days ago, he finished fifth in the 1,500-metre final, two days after he finished fourth in the 1,000-metre.
“I race to win,” the 24-year-old said. “The medal that I’m aiming for is always gold. I know that taking a risk is how you get gold. Individually, it’s not for me today. There’s still a part of me that feels like today I won gold with Steven. I feel like there’s a part of me in that medal.”
Canada’s Steven Dubois receives his 1st individual short track Olympic gold medal
But Dubois took the podium alone. He tapped it with both hands before he climbed on top of it, as though to make sure the moment was real, and kissed his medal the instant it was draped around his neck.
After, he kept looking down at it, touching it, his hands trembling with a rush of thoughts and feelings and adrenaline.
The short track team has now claimed five medals at Milano-Cortina, a foundational haul for Canada, which has 14.
Courtney Sarault has four of them. The women’s relay team — Sarault, Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle, and Danaé Blais — led their race against Italy, Korea, and the Netherlands from the third of 26 laps.
Canada’s Courtney Sarault wins her 4th Olympic medal with bronze in short track women’s 3,000m relay
Midway through, one of the Dutch skaters tripped on Brunelle’s blade. She somehow kept her balance, barely, while the Dutch skater fell, meaning a medal was all but guaranteed.
A slip by Blais in the 23rd lap gave the Italians a chance to overtake. The Koreans, too, passed before catching Italy on the last lap to win a surprise gold.
“I think we almost all fell at one point,” Sarault said. “It was just a lot of action, a lot of crazy stuff. I think that’s short track and we handled that really well. At the end, things happened. We have long blades on our feet, and sometimes you don’t always get lucky. But I couldn’t be prouder of this team. We skated with heart.”
Olympic short track relay medal ‘feels like a bronze for all of our country’
Sarault has also picked up silvers in the mixed relay and 1,000-metre finals, and a bronze in the 500-metre event.
Boutin has now won six medals in her three Olympics, which ties her with Charles Hamelin and Cindy Klassen for the most career medals by a Canadian at the Winter Olympics.
Dubois has won five in two.
On the ride from the Olympic Village to the rink, Sarault had reminded him of his capabilities. She had felt, even before the team arrived in Milan, that Dubois would come home with a gold.
“I never doubted him for a second,” she said. “I wanted to make him laugh and remind him of who he is and how strong he really is, because I don’t think he necessarily remembers or realizes how strong he is. I just feel like he’s been capable of this for so long. I knew Steven was going to perform.”
Canada’s short track team will have one more chance to add to its remarkable tally on Friday, when the women compete at the 1,500-metre distance and the men in the 5,000-metre relay.
“Every medal feels different, honestly,” Sarault said. “Every medal has its own little feeling and is its own little experience.”
Steven Dubois looked at his once again. He didn’t list it in his catalogue of emotions, but it was there, in his eyes and his smile, widening still.
He felt joy.
